Firefighters to the rescue in Anchorage

Anchorage first responders gave what could have been a tragedy a happy ending recently, when they extricated two people from their car after a crash, according to an article in the Alaska Dispatch News.

The incident occurred when a sedan hit a parked car that was on the shoulder near the Government Hill bridge. The vehicle then hit the guardrail, left the road, and careened down an embankment before finally coming to rest under the bridge. The car wound up almost vertical, with the front on the ground and the back end resting atop wooden pallets.

Construction worker Jeffrey Pimentel, who was working on the bridge, heard the car when it hit his Mazda, shoving it about 60 feet from where he had parked it. He ran to the vehicle to try and help. Both passengers were injured, but conscious when first responders arrived. Their injuries were not life-threatening, thanks in part to the quick actions of emergency personnel.

In order to get the victims out, firefighters strapped chains around one of the bridge’s columns, then used cutting tools to peel back the roof and hold it open. Denis LeBlanc, the fire chief, called it a “pretty technical extraction” complicated by the vehicle rotating in the air.

Incidents like this can provide reassurance to residents, if officials work with a brochure printing company to create brochures about the services provided by first responders.